Sushi

May 14, 2002

Whenever son Ben (that's him in the picture) visits me these days, he seems to make a beeline for the pantry. It is obviously a cheaper option than going to the supermarket. The other day he was looking for the sushi rice. I think I must be a soft touch. By the time he had finished "shopping" in my kitchen, he had all the sushi ingredients - the seaweed nori, the mirin, the vinegar, the pickled ginger.

By way of thanks, he generously offered to shop for me at the local salmon farm while he was borrowing my car, so he ended up with a choice fresh salmon fillet, too.

Next day he called me up to see if I'd already eaten. Seems he had made rather a large quantity of sushi and was trying to reduce the stockpile while it was still nice and fresh.

I am a great fan of sushi. One of the advantages of living in Christchurch has been the proliferation of good Asian restaurants. This city is part of the tourist trail and, with New Zealand being handy to Asia, attracts a large number of Asian visitors. There are also numerous English language schools catering for young Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean students who wish to brush up their English skills. One of the sure signs of a good Asian restaurant is the large number of Asian patrons. A work friend and I often take a lunch break at one of the local sushi bars or noodle houses to indulge our appetites for ethnic fare.

One favourite does a simply stunning dish of hot rice, freshly cooked bok choy and several slices of raw salmon. A dash of light vinegar and some brewed soy sauce and it is perfection. A nice mix of hot and cold, interesting textures and clean flavours. And cheap. Needless to say this little restaurant, tucked in an alleyway, is popular with visiting students. They also do excellent sushi.

Last winter I took Ben along with me to a hands-on sushi-making class. Our instructors were a local importer of Asian food and his Japanese wife.

They said there was no need to pay megabucks for the rice component - a good short-grain rice was all that was needed. A good brewed or naturally fermented soy sauce is also essential. My personal favourite is Kikkoman (check out http://www.kikkoman.com). I have been using it for years.

Another ingredient is mirin, a sweet rice wine, though if you can't get it, you can use a little sugar. Sushi vinegar is also used to flavour the rice.

An important part of the sushi process is rinsing the rice. I put it in a pot in the sink and start the cold water tap running in to the pot. If you carefully adjust the rate the water enters the pot until the rice grains are just turning over, but not escaping over the rim of the pot, you've got it right. Let the tap run for about five minutes or until the water is clear, then drain the rice and let it sit in a sieve to dry out for about 30 minutes.

You will also need a bamboo mat for rolling your sushi and a dish of water with a dash or vinegar in it to dampen your hands as your roll the sushi.

For sushi filling you can use strips of cucumber, raw salmon, omelet, avocado, skinned roasted pepper - really whatever you fancy. You can buy assorted Japanese pickles at your supermarket or you might like to use strips of teriyaki chicken, fresh tuna etc.

Sushi

Take 2 cups short-grain rice and 2 1/2 cups water. Bring the rice to the boil in a covered pot, and then turn it back to a simmer for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes.

Stir in 2 tablespoons each of mirin and rice vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt and then tip the rice onto a large shallow dish and fan it while it cools.

Place a sheet of nori or seaweed on your bamboo mat and spread with the rice. Do not cover the last centimetre or two farthest from you. Keep the rice coating thin - almost so you can see the nori underneath. Dampen the uncovered edge with water.

Place the strips of filling in the third closest to you then, with the aid of the bamboo mat, start rolling the sushi.

When we did this in class, we halved the sheets of nori and made thin, cocktail sized sushi. This can get a little tricky and messy until you develop a technique. Ben said he used the whole sheets and had no problems at all and this is the method I would tend to use first time around.

When you have your rolls assembled, slice them through with a sharp cook's knife. You can alternate straight and diagonal slices, giving interesting shapes when the sushi is stacked on its flat end.

One really nice presentation idea I saw at a recent function was placing the sushi on mirror tiles.

My picture shows Ben's sushi before I tucked into it. It was accompanied by pickled ginger and some Kikkoman soy sauce. You can also make a wasabi paste to go alongside, or incorporate the paste in the sushi as he did.

If you want to know more about wasabi, you might be interested in this NewZealand site: http://www.wasabi.co.nz/ and if you're interested in learning all about how to eat sushi, Eugene Ciurana has written an excellent guide for non-Japanese people who enjoy sushi but aren't familiar with the customs and traditions that make for an outstanding dining experience. Check it out.

<< Previous | Next >>